The Pot of Chili

The other night I was at the trailer park talking to the manager and he got a phone call saying there was a trailer on fire!! We jumped in his truck and drove over to the trailer. As we drove up I noticed there was smoke coming from the bathroom window. My trained eye noticed there was no sign of flames. We tried frantically to get in but couldn't. I could hear the sirens in the background so I knew the fire department was close. I managed to get my fingers in behind the edge of the back door. I pulled with all my might and ripped the metal covering off the door. No one appeared to be home. The manger jumped in his truck to retrieve the keys. We continued to try to break in. Meanwhile the neighbors were starting to gather all shouting their own advice of how to get in. We were almost to the point of breaking a window when the keys arrived. At the same moment so did the fire department. Lights and sirens blaring. Two trucks and a couple fire department cars. The firemen jumped out and geared up. Tanks, masks, boots, jackets, big spotlight, everything. They approached the front door, with spotlights illuminating their way, and fought their way through the thick black smoke now rolling out the front door. As they disappeared into the smoke. I had all these things going through my head. Was someone in there? Was it an electrical fire? Why no flames? Just about that time the lights reappeared at the front entrance. Why are they coming out? I had a vision of them pulling someone out overcome by the smoke. They were carrying something. "What is it?", I thought. I walked over for a closer look. It was a large pot with a large metal spoon sticking out the top. They had left a pot of chili on the stove!! Are you kidding me?! All this for a pot of chili?! I was relieved at the same time frustrated. There was no fire just smoke.

Then the captain started asking who lived there. Here I was once again having to stand there and say I was the owner. "Yes, this is my trailer", all the while lights are flashing everywhere and people standing around gawking. While I was talking to the captain and I felt something running down my hand. I looked down and I had blood running down and dripping from my fingers. I had cut my finger on the door. That was when one of the fireman jumped up and said, "Hey you want a band-aid for that?". You know us fire fighters got to watch out for each other.

Disaster had been avoided. The only damage was the smell of smoke and one stove. After we were allowed in, the tenant showed up. Apparantly his brother had left the stove on. I gave him a "stern" talking to. We unplugged the stove and pulled it away from the wall so that they wouldn't use it until we got him another one.

My hat's off to all firefighters out there. What you guys do is amazing. You guys definitley don't get paid enough. Thank you for what you do!

Remodel

Now that the party animals are gone we finally got to take a look at the trailer. The place was a mess!! I can't believe these guys lived in these conditions. The smell was terrible. There were bugs and mice. I couldn't believe it. The kitchen cabinets are rotted as well as the bathroom cabinets. The carpet is ruined and there wasn't any tile on the kitchen floors. There was also some spots in the floor that are rotted. I can understand not having money for a nice place but there is no excuse for living in filth. I should have taken some pictures for the "Before and After".

We decided to start the remodel this weekend. The first thing I did was start the clean out. They had left a bunch of stuff in there including trash. The next thing was the floors. I ripped all the carpet and padding out, scraped the few remaining vinyl tiles off the kitchen floors. Then we ripped out the kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Removing the carpet made a big difference in the smell. Now that the cabinets are gone I realized the floors under the cabinets are rotted also. Next we removed all the rotted wood. Before we left for the night I put out rat poison and set off 4 bug bombs.

Now we have to put it all back together. Hopefully we can get it done this week and get it rented out again.